■"June 2nd, will be the graduation ceremony for the participants of this semester's IIIHR program. The program will start at 6:00 pm and will be located on the 14th floor of the Main Building. Participants should bring a copy of their speech, which elaborates on their feelings and any advice for future programs.

 ■ The lieutenant commander from the Naval Academy, Professor Jo Duk Hyun, guided us around the campus. Since it was festival time at the school, there were many different things to see. After we had lunch with the Naval Academy students, we look around the dormitory, which looked just as convenient as English Town. The people at the Naval Academy prepared a boat tour for us, which would allow us to view the scenery from Ok Po bay.

The ship we boarded had never had females on it before, so the female participants were the first females to board the ship. We were told all about the ship by the officers that were currently stationed on it. They also let us look around the ship. As we were exiting the ship, many of participants hit their heads on the exit because it was so small!

Our final destination was the summer home of Korea's first president, Lee Sung Man. Even though it was built in the 1950's it was an extremely modern looking house. All the girls quickly understood why most women in Korea want to be the president's wife.

The visit to the Naval Academy was extremely memorable. Everything from boarding the ship to looking around the fleet. Lastly, thanks again to Jo Duk Hyun for showing us around the campus.

 ■ On this friday the 23rd, we are visiting the Naval Academy in JinHae.  It is located less than an hour away from our school and so we should get together at Building A's bus stop around 10:30.    Please be punctual and if you have any questions, contact Hee Jung.   

 ■  On 16th of May,  The International students participating in the IIIHR program were invited to a wonderful  lunch with Mrs.Kim's ESL class. We had a great time. It was about a half-hour drive from Inje University at an  old "abandoned" house. It was very westernized but had some gorgeous Korean antique furniture in it.

 Mrs.Kim, Jenny and Marie-loe prepared sandwiches for an appetizer for lunch the day before. we had all kinds  of food, which included: corn, Korean BBQ, Bulgogie and other kinds of traditional Korean snacks. It was great.

 We had a good time talking with Mrs.Kim's students and I think everyone enjoyed themselves very much. We all  ate so much food that by the end, we were all ready for naps. A few of us had to leave early because we had  teaching obligations to take care of. But, it was great.

 After coming down the mountain, we were treated to lunch by the vice president’s friend.  The food was extremely delicious because it was made from fresh vegetables.  In addition we also drank Baek Se Joo.  Legend tells that if a person drinks it, they will live for 100 additional years.  Michelle drank 6 glasses of it!  Apparently she wants to live for a long time!  After lunch, we stopped by the temple(Kum Kyang Sa) to bow to the Buddha 3 times.  The first bow to Buddha is a greeting.  The second bow is to thank Buddha for the world and the harmonious existence of it. The last bow is to make one’s dreams and wishes come true.  After bowing we entered a room where some Korea rice and fruits were set for us.  In this room, there were three women waiting for us.  They showed us how to pour tea.  One of them explained the difference between Japanese and Korean tea.  We met the head monk of the Temple and discussed various aspects of the program.  They served us more food and invited us to stay one night for meditation. After thanking the people at the temple and the vice president’s friend for their great hospitality, we headed back to Inje.  All the participants look satisfied with this trip.   

  ■ With the help of Huh Hae Kyoung, we went to Hae Dong Young Kwoong Sa which is a temple located on the beach. It’s very rare here in Korea for temples to be on the beach. Most of temples are in the mountains. Even though it was Monday, there were many visitors looking around, praying for something they wanted to complete or have. There was something that surprised us. There was a monk made with a stone whose belly looked like a pregnant woman. It means that when we get married and we want to have a son, we can visit here and touch the belly and we will have a son easily by touching it. When we were told that it made many of us laugh. On the other hand, we could tell easily how important guys are here in Korea and then Holli said that she needs a girl not a boy. Hahaha~  There was a great view at this temple. We had never expected that they would have such beautiful scenery there. If I have free time, I would like to visit one more.  

 Then we went to the pottery place located in Ki Jang, Busan to have lunch and make some pottery. At the gate of the shop, there was pottery that looked like dolls standing still and they had funny looks on their faces. We felt like we were in fairly tale country. We had noodles (Kuk Soo) and Bi Bim Bab. It was a good meal. Then we went to make some pottery and we got to draw some pictures of whatever we wanted on the cups. After making the cups, we looked around GaMa, which looked like a tomb filled with the pottery. We were told about how high the fires temperature should be to back and they should bake twice to make it. We then took some pictures with the dolls standing in the mountain.. Later, we could find out that the doll pottery we saw doesn’t have brains and ears. We asked why they were made like that. According to the teacher, nowdays it is a troubled world and he didn’t want to hear anything from the world. He just wanted to enjoy his life.  

 We dropped by a pottery museum at Busan Women’s college on the way back to school. This Tea Museum is the only one we have in Korea. There were many things related to tea such as bowls and teas and so forth and we could see traditional clothes and rooms in the building. They were quite interesting.  

 We didn’t have enough time to look around the whole college, but we all thought it was worth it to learn about more of the culture and history of Korea.

  ■ On the 17^th of March: We are going to take a trip to Busan for a Korean pottery     experience at 10 in the morning. We should get together around 10:00 right in front of     English.

   Don’t forget^^*

  ■ On the 5th of March: We had a meeting with the participants’ host families. We introduced  ourselves to one another, watched a documentary that professor Kim taped in the states  about adoption, and ate some snacks that were prepared for us. We explained what the  purpose of the host families were and everyone had a very good time.